Joyful Garden Watertown

I visited Joyful Garden for the first time ever on April 6, 2025, and it instantly felt like a place I’d been coming to for years. Located inside the Watertown Mall/Arsenal Yards, this classic Cantonese dim sum spot delivered on every level: warm service, authentic flavors, and a comforting, familiar menu. Everything we ordered was exactly what I hoped for—and perfectly executed. The deep-fried taro dumplings had that beautiful nest-like crunch with a creamy savory filling. The shrimp rice noodle rolls (cheung fun) were soft and delicate, draped in just the right amount of sweet soy sauce. My personal favorite? The fried shrimp and chive dumplings—crisp on the outside, packed with fresh chive and juicy shrimp inside. I also had the steamed shrimp and chive dumplings, and both versions were spot-on. These are the classics I’ve loved my whole life, and Joyful Garden does them right. The restaurant was easy to get to by rideshare, and the drop-off was smooth—even during a busy lunchtime. The dining room is spacious, the dishes arrived hot and fresh, and the prices are very reasonable—especially for lunch. No surprises on the menu, just comfort and quality.

Love Dimsum, Love Joyful garden, they do it right from the taste of the cart service, Waiters and all. Highly recommend if you like Asian cuisine. Easy to park at Best buy and Target lot. Weekends will be a line to be seated, they don't take reservations, but definitely worth the wait.

Joyful Garden Chinese restaurant is indeed joyful! We were seated quickly with a pot of tea. Service was friendly, and food came out rather promptly. We started with West Lake beef soup and it was amazing! Light and delicious, I must say it’s my favorite soup. Then, we shared an order of salt and pepper shrimp and calamari, bok choy, and Yang chow fried rice; everything was delicious! But the highlight was the pan-fried flounder; I just couldn’t get enough of it, just quite pricey for $40.95 market price. Plenty of parking and a much better option than going to Boston. I can’t wait to go back!

This was one of the worst Chinese restaurant experiences I’ve had in the area. The dim sum was decent, but everything else fell flat. Service was abysmal — the servers were loudly playing cards in the corner and seemed uninterested in assisting diners. We ordered a Diet Coke ($3.50), which was completely flat and tasteless — worse than what you’d get at a fast food place. We also tried to order the classic Chinese tomato and egg dish. Not only did the server struggle to communicate that the dish wasn’t available, but they went ahead and made it anyway — then charged us $20 for a completely underwhelming version. Easily the worst rendition of that dish I’ve had locally. Don’t be misled by the high ratings — I strongly recommend avoiding this place.

It’s been awhile since we last visited. Dim sum tasted as good as we remembered. Everything was steamy hot. Our favorites are the crispy pork chashu buns. This time we have to order them. They were in the push carts. Shrimp dumplings (ha gow), pork and shrimp sui mai were really good! Steamed Bean curds pork rolls came with three in the steamer was delicious too! Chicken feet with black beans and garlic, fried taro dumplings, steamed pork ribs, lotus leaves wrap with sticky rice, fried sesame balls with red bean paste inside, tofu pudding….They were all very good! Except the jelly fish and radish… they tasted from a package. A little mala taste (numbing) seasoning. We didn’t enjoy that! Service was excellent! The waitstaff are always so fast and friendly! Clean restroom and restaurant seems pretty spacious! Get there at 10 am when they open then you won’t have to wait. By 10:30 am it was a full house on a Sat am! Would definitely recommend this restaurant!

A traditional dim sum hall where freshly steamed and fried dishes are served directly from carts to your table! The vibe is super lively and interactive, though you’ll need to be firm when declining certain dishes. Everything is of great quality, and it’s best to come with a large group to sample a wide variety of dim sum items.

Classic cart dim sum is a favorite of mine! You definitely need 4-6 people minimum if you want to try a bunch of stuff! I love the turnip cake and Shumai!

Very good Dim Sum, including the Turnip cake, Shrimp, Cheung Fun (sp), and Shu mai. Star was the egg custard tart, oh so good. Finally, the service was very attentive & friendly, even considering some language barriers ( not an issue for me as my family is 1st generation immigrants & most have lovely stong accents). Prices are appropriate to Boston, which is to say high 😆.

Dim sum! Yes please! Whenever we are craving dim sum we think of Joyful Garden! We usually treat ourselves to din sum on the weekends but it's usually very busy so we try to go either really early or right before they stop serving din sum which is 3pm. It's located inside a small strip mall but the restaurant is huge!! There are several big round tables that seat ten people and smaller tables that sit five people. It always feels like I have entered a grand palaces dining room. Once you put your name down, because there is always a wait-list, they give you a buzzer that beaps once your table is ready. You are quickly seated and a hot pot of green tea is served along with small plates and chop sticks. My favorite part of Joyful Garden is the super nice cart ladies that push their carts filled with steam baskets of dum sum. We enjoy waving them down to bring us food. You can also order other non dim sum items and we usually order Chinese broccoli. Everything is always steaming hot and super tasty and we usually overeat but it is so worth it to leave super stuffed. The servers always make sure we have plenty to eat and are always on top of refills of water and green tea. We really enjoy coming to Joyful Garden!

To begin with, the service is hit or miss. Some servers are friendly, but some are not. Most importantly, though, the dim sum is average at best. I think most of their dishes would be a lot better if they added just a bit more salt, but they were all pretty bland. The shrimp, which was in a lot of dishes, also didn't seem very fresh. If you're looking for a fun dim sum experience, it's worth it to go, but if you're looking for v high quality food, look somewhere else!

Came on a Sunday around 11 am and was told 30 min wait, ended up waiting closer to an hour 15. They give you beepers so you can walk around which is nice, but that you can only walk so many laps inside target. Once we were seated, we were basically thrown plates and cups to hand out and the dim sum madness began. I will preface that I am somewhat of a dim sum fiend with very high standards, but wow was this place not the move. The cart ladies were extremely aggressive and rude, shouting over and over when you've already said you didn't want something from their cart. Not once were we asked if we wanted our dishes cut (which should be a given since we had 7 people), and we had to ask multiple times for chili oil and other sauces, which they forgot. The food itself lacked flavor and was mostly overcooked. All the dumplings were soggy and the skins essentially melted off when we tried to pick them up, the turnip cakes were mush, and the cheong fun was hard as a rock (I've also never seen pan fried cheong fun--not opposed to the idea, but execution wise this wasn't it.) So far Boston has been the lowest tier city for dim sum from all the big metro hubs I've tried, and I'm not sure why I thought this place would surprise me but my conclusion remains: skip dim sum if you're in Mass and leave that to CA/NY/WA, please.

Visited on 7/10/2025: I used to dine in at least once a week or order take out every week but I noticed that the food quality has gone downhill which is why I stopped coming here so often. I should've walked out as soon as I noticed that the manager who I usually see wasn't there and that there was a different crew working tonight. My waiter did not seem to check in which was lousy. The chicken fried rice was one slice of chicken that was cut into very, very small pieces, almost the size of chewed gum, maybe 5 bean sprouts and that's it. The shrimp lo mein had no flavor, very bland and very dry. I do think I went on an off day, but with how much $ their entrees are, it's just not worth the bad quality food and subpar service (which I'm generally okay with as long as the food is good).

Long overdue. Way overdue, this shoutout for something this special. My second most frequented restaurant of all time. Not for long because the other one is back in California and no longer immediately accessible. They are both alike in many ways...3.5 stars on Yelp, service unpredictable, but the food always consistent and stellar. However, this place is aptly named...because I always find joy whenever I dine here. Long story short, once you hit a certain age, you begin craving certain memories to come back. Luckily, it is much easier with food. Those in the industry who dish it out consistently despite the absolute brutal busy days are what make everything memorable. Those who peddle the food in the dim sum carts who eventually remember you and verbally tell you how glad they are to see you well and back. The particular servers that you connect with eventually that treat you with specialty that rivals high end restaurants (P.S. I'm saying that about a Chinese place and service...). Here, I've found that and it's irreplaceable. It's quite an achievement when you're remembered by several servers at an extremely busy restaurant that caters to just about everyone that they'd take a bee-line just to shake your hand and say hello (despite their allocated section at the other end of the large space). It really is amazing when they actually veto your order choice because another combination would be even better due to dishes coming together in pure harmony. It really is special and I have found it here on top of all the other places I frequent. And that's why in the short time here in Massachusetts, this spot has quickly become my number two most frequented spot of all time (and soon to be #1). They don't play. They just work and dish it the way it's supposed to be. I respect that. I love it. It really brings me much joy. Aptly named. It is truly a Joyful Garden. A plethora of absolute culinary delight.

We enjoyed the first visit and had to come back. This time, we tried the pork spare ribs in black bean sauce, and it was fantastic! The chicken teriyaki appetizer was tender and tasty, and the fried chicken with garlic sauce was not good; it was salty and had an off taste to it. I don't recommend ordering it. Our server was nice and attentive.

What a great surprise this Cantonese Chinese restaurant is absolutely a keeper. Visited with my wife and the restaurant was full of local Chinese. The Seafood fried noodle dish is cooked to perfection. Their lobster is also amazing. They also have great dim sum over the weekend. The service is efficient and professional. Henry is a great host and welcoming gentleman. The ambiance is busy and buzzing with one of the very large buffet style Chinese I have had a chance to visit. Go there enjoy you will not regret it!!!

This place is a gem! Fast service. Authentic Chinese Food and probably some of the best Chinese food I've ever had. Plus it's extremely affordable. It's located inside the mall so a bit hard to find for some people. Here's what we ordered + ratings: -Pan fried peking ravioli: 4/5. Delicious! -bbq boneless spareribs: 5/5! my fave dish of the night. Tender, juicy, full of flavor. -hot and sour soup: easily 5/5. Best sweet and sour soup i've ever had -wonton soup: 3/5 this was okay compared to the other dishes we ordered. -Crispy Chicken with Garlic sauce: 5/5. This was just as delicious as the ribs. Thin, crispy chicken skin. The meat was super juicy. Highly recommend.

Recommended by my husband's coworker, it was nice to experience a new dimsum place outside of Chinatown. Most places you have to wait outside but the beauty of it being in a mall gives you shelter from the cold or rain or heat outside. You can go explore the mall in the meantime while you wait because they give you a buzzer for when your table is ready - but set a timer to head back incase the buzzer is too far out of receptor. Not that I've been to many restaurants for dim sum but I love when I experience a new place and what their special item(s) is that'll bring me back which is the fried eggplant and shrimp dish for me. We got it to try, loved it and ordered more. The food overall was good the staff was friendly.

A solid Chinese restaurant at arsenal right next to Target. It's a decently large dining area that has options to block off if you need a bigger gathering for a celebration. I've come here multiple times for family gatherings from their dim sum lunch hours to dinner gatherings. The service has always been good which makes the dining experience better than some other Chinese restaurants. They have a fairly large menu, so you can order everything from appetizers to noodles, rice, soups, chicken, beef, pork, seafood, and vegetables. The fried squid or fried pork chops is a favorite dish that comes out crispy and flavorful. There's also a bar with a few TVs so you won't miss out on any sports game. Overall, a nice place to eat a meal out.

Here's a breakdown of Joyful Garden. Would I go again? Yes. PROS: (+) You don't have to drive into Chinatown and scrounge for street/garage parking to enjoy some weekend dim sum. Plentiful parking and it's in a mall between Best Buy and Target for post-meal shopping. (+) Our group of seven walked in at around 11:30 on a Saturday and didn't have to wait (unheard of for dim sum places in Chinatown or Quincy). By the time we finished about an hour later, there was a long line outside the restaurant. So come early. (+) The food in the carts was fresh and tasty (with one exception below). My favorites were the shrimp har gow, sesame balls, and egg tarts. We stuck to the dim sum off the carts but there's also a bigger food menu you can order from. (+) Clean and spacious banquet-style dining area. CONS: (-) The service was typical of a Chinese restaurant. If you can speak Mandarin or Cantonese, it makes things a bit easier. (-) The spare ribs, which is usually one of my favorite dishes at dim sum, was not good - a ton of gristle, super oily. (-) The variety in dim sum seemed relatively limited - I didn't see tripe or chicken feet or egg custard buns but it's possible they were there, you just have to ask.

Just an update, this place is always amazing, and we go there every time we are in MA. We got their fish with broccoli and a beef chow fun. Everything was delicious. It was very nice that we got complimentary red bean soup for dessert. We will be back.

You want your dum sum with the carts but without the craziness of Chinatown and easy parking? This is the spot! Get there early because the wait time can be long. The food is delicious as you would expect for dim sum and comes out piping hot. We always get our regulars of shu mai, hai gow, rice noodles, chicken feet, spare ribs and turnip cake. You can't forget about the bakery cart that comes around with dim sum sized Dan tats :)

The lunch specials are very good and a bargain. The dim sum looks amazing. I'll try that the next time. The service is a bit slow but to be fair they were very busy on a weekday lunch. The place is very large and lacks cozyness. Come for the food not the atmosphere. Happy to have good Chinese restaurant close to my house. I'll be back soon

Disappointed. Quality of food has fallen. Portions overpriced. Took friends yesterday. Each dish contained three quarters rice. Tasteless shrimp and vegetables. No salt, semi-cooked tough broccoli. No serving spoons. I had to go pick up spoons myself. Staff more interested in pushing dim sum. Will not return.

Recently returned for a weekend dim sum experience, and I'm reminded that why I'm not a huge fan of weekend dim sum here (or anywhere really). 1. It's very crowded. We were in a group of 10, so we didn't have to share tables with others. But we did have to wait for about 20 minutes to be seated when we arrived at 10:30 AM. 2. The roller carts staff mostly speak Cantonese, with very limited English. There was one or two "head" servers who speak good English. There is no picture menu, so your guess is as good as mine when the staff bring over dishes that I don't normally order and ask if you want them. 3. Some servers are rude, but that's just the way it is. Each time I'm here, I'm reminded how chaotic this place can be (though not unique to Joyful Garden), and everyone runs around doing everything. They get so busy. I remember coming here before, and had to be seated with others in a shared table. If you speak Cantonese or are very familiar with dim sum in general, then you will be fine here. I don't recommend this place if you have never had dim sum before, since it can be so overwhelming. The indoor air quality during crowded lunch was okay, around 1100 ppm. It's surprisingly "acceptable" given how crowded it gets. 4 stars for the weekend dim sum lunch. 5 stars (previous review) stays for weekday dinner experience.

This restaurant is perfect for very big parties of 6 or more, which is precisely why we often come here for family dimsum! Seating can take a while since they are likely the only large Chinese restaurant in the vicinity, but they have a variety of dishes perfect for all taste buds, especially on their dinner menu. I enjoyed how fast their service was, and with the large amount of servers walking around constantly, you will easily find someone who can help with whatever you need. I am only taking off a couple of stars because their dimsum selection did not seem that big to me considering the size of the restaurant and the large amount of customers they get. The food tasted pretty good and filled me up by the end of our meal, however, it wasn't anything unique or special compared to other dimsum places I've been. Certainly for their ease of reservation booking and pure table sizes, I will probably be back!

It has been a while since I came and had Dim-Sum here. Being that I had to get my License Renewed at the RMV, and Joyful is right next to the RMV, chose to come and get my Dim-Sum on. I was not disappointed. Unlike coming on the weekends, where this place is elbow to elbow with people, Monday is nice a quite, where I didn't have to wait for table and still got all the selections I would get on the weekend. Additionally, Parking is amazing on Monday mornings here. The Food was delicious and piping hot ( I can't count how many times I burnt the roof of my mouth.) Beyond Dim-Sum, there are lunch options and American Chinese options, such as General Taos Chicken, Teriyaki Beef, and many other lunch combo options. The place has been well kept and clean. The Carpets look like it is washed and shampooed regularly and the chairs are wiped down and cleaned after each guest. Definitely a better option to go when Quincy it too far away and Chinatown is too busy and too hard to find parking.

Disappointed. Quality of food has fallen. Portions overpriced. Took friends yesterday. Each dish contained three quarters rice. Tasteless shrimp and vegetables. No salt, semi-cooked tough broccoli. No serving spoons. I had to go pick up spoons myself. Staff more interested in pushing dim sum. Will not return.

Come here for dim sum and you won't be disappointed. Came as a group of twelve on a Sunday, and as soon as we sat down, we were hounded by waiters with food. It helps to have a Chinese speaker in your group, but it's not impossible without one. For the more popular dishes like Shrimp Chang-Fen, there was a bit of a wait, but not too long. Everything was delicious, but I had been craving the XiMiLu (sago dessert), which really hit the spot.

This place is just outside of Boston and checks off many boxes: good food, lots of parking, accommodates large groups. I recommend calling ahead to make sure there isn't a banquet/party using up all the tables in the restaurant. I went for dinner on a Sunday night. We ordered a set menu plus a couple more dishes for the 12 of us. Everything was good and I'd go back especially if I don't want to deal with going into the city.

Transitional Cantonese dim sum restaurant. Good taste of all kinds of dim sum. Good to see the food carts again which is less seen nowadays.

We went for dim sum on a weekend. The place is large and busy, but we only waited ~15 min. For dim sum, they have the carts so you can see the food you want. It was very delicious! I liked the various buns and steamed dumplings. The chicken feet were meh, not fresh. Same with the century egg and pork congee. But my favorite was the fried balls where the shell is quite delicate, kinda wispy (I don't know what it's called haha). That was super tasty and the texture was perfectly crispy. This place is your typical Chinese restaurant that actual Chinese people go to, and it has been my best dim sum experience in the Boston area -- much better than Hei La Moon in Chinatown.

First time here, server was good. She suggested a lot of delicious dishes. My favorite was the steak and Chinese broccoli. The lobster was amazing. Calamari was so flavorful. It was reasonable for the quality

I joined some colleagues today at this 'old school' dim sum restaurant. It was my first ever experience at a dim sum restaurant, so I had little expectations before I arrived. Food: Really delicious. A diversity of options to choose from -- we had some items with beef, shrimp, pork, vegetarian. It was nice that folks with a dietary restriction like pork could still participate in the dining experience in a real way! There is hot tea (jasmine?) waiting for you at the table when you arrive, and it's refilled frequently. Service: So, my colleagues told me that this dim sum service style was 'old school.' At Joyful Gardens, service folks walk around with carts of different foods. They offer you the family style dishes and give you a stamp card/sheet that they mark each time a food is added to the table. The system works so well! It's very efficient and convenient. Ambiance: I loved the ambiance of Joyful Gardens. It's definitely a great place to go as a group/with family. Seating is circular tables & spacious.

We went today again, we often frequent this restaurant as it was always good. Recently we have seen a decline in quality. Today the restaurant was full again and we went around 11 AM. They only had 1 cart going and everything we got seemed o really old, like it was leftovers from yesterday. It was all really over cooked, the hargow, and shumai were steamed so much the skin had dissolved. Also, and this is not the first time we have seen it but when visiting the men's restroom, someone had gotten sick in the sink. The reason Im writing this review though is both my partner and I are now incredibly sick after eating at Joyful garden. This place was once amazing and I recommend a lot of people there but after this visit, I caution everyone and I hope the management takes this seriously and takes proper steps to ensure their guests don't get sick!

Really enjoy this dim sum as an option outside of Boston. Plenty of parking , and if you come at opening pretty much guarantee a table. Service is typical cold efficient East Asian vibes - if you speak Cantonese it's a lot easier to navigate ordering. Would recommend.

The food is really really great. The service is really really bad. We had to get our own drinks from the bar, then we had to get our own WATER from the bar. Then we never got RICE?!?! (yes, we ordered it) We had to ask for it after waiting 20+ minutes after some of the entrees arrived. I don't think the employees give a hoot if you get your food or not... And one of the entrees didn't show up until we were getting ready to leave.. It's heartbreaking to see wonderful food served in such a slipshod manor. I don't get it.

This is a very reliable Cantonese Chinese food location without the parking issues that come with its Chinatown counterparts. Because they have a huge lot, my family has started to prefer having outings here instead of in the city, and the food is just as good. On our latest trip for my grandparents' anniversary, we ordered a bunch of different dishes: Long Life Noodles: I normally love these, but the ones on this particular night were a little oily. Still, they had that great mushroom and green onion flavor. Beef and Broccoli: A very standard dish - the beef was soft as usual and the Chinese broccoli was huge. Normally I think they cut the stalks into smaller pieces, but I actually preferred them larger - I think they ended up being a bit more crisp because they took longer to cook through. Lobster: This is always extremely delicious, but definitely a luxury. Cantonese style lobster is deep fried in a chewy batter with ginger and scallions, which really brings out the sweetness of the lobster. I love this dish, even though it's not something I eat too often. Salt and Pepper Seafood: We usually alternate between salt and pepper pork and salt and pepper seafood, but I much prefer the seafood version. With shrimp, squid, and scallops, the salt and pepper seasoning is a perfect way to make the seafood really kick! Fish: This was the only really disappointing dish - while it looked very good, the actual fish itself didn't taste super fresh (or maybe it was overcooked?). I only had a few pieces, but luckily there were a lot of other options. Fried Chicken: I LOVE shrimp chips, but the actual chicken here was really juicy and fresh tasting. The skin was really nice and crisp, and the salt and pepper dipping seasoning really makes this dish delicious. Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs: I also LOVE this dish. I much prefer this version to the salt and pepper one, and they didn't have a lot of bones this night. Each piece had just the perfect ratio of fat to meat - I ended up eating 3-4 pieces of this which was a lot considering the other dishes on the table. Shrimp and Tofu Squares: The dipping sauce really makes this dish, and the shrimp tastes pretty fresh as well. Everything is good deep fried, and this is not an exception. (not pictured) we also got a seafood soup, sweet bean soup, and sweet buns to end the meal. All were delicious! They also do dim sum in the morning, and it's a very reliably positive experience - the food is always fresh and tasty and there is a lot of variety of dishes to choose from. You definitely need a car to get here comfortably, but if you do, it's a lot less stress than driving into Chinatown and the food still tastes great!

Went for lunch to get some dim sum and did not want to go to make the travel to Chinatown. The dim sum was good and fresh. Variety of the dim sum was also good. Service was a bit spotty but good once you can flag someone. The place is similar to other Chinese restaurants in Chinatown.

If there is a 0 star rating, this place deserves worse than a 0 star rating. I went to the place on February 15, 2025 around 4:30pm. The place was definitely not busy, with only less than five tables filled, and many empty one. I encountered an outrageously bad experience at the place. Below are the details: (1) The tea cup showed food residual floating around after I poured tea into it. I had to ask for change. (2) A side plate had a few circle of soy sauce stains. We had to ask for change. (3) I ordered a few dim sum items and other dishes. The dim sum items were not freshly steamed as expected by a dim sum restaurant. Rather they were the leftover of other customers during lunch time. They were warmed in microwave oven. But they felt dry and and even cold after biting off the top part. The bamboo plate holding the items felt lukewarm, not as hot as usually right after being steamed. I did not complain the issues (1) and (2) above. However, when I complained about the issue (3) above, since I didn't want to eat other people's leftover food, the manager of the place responded with these words, "do you want to eat? If yes, I can let the kitchen cook again for you. If you don't want to eat, I can cancel your order, you can leave now". He clearly didn't care for customers' experience. I reckoned that perhaps there were so few Asian restaurants in the big metropolitan Boston area, this place simply didn't care. They could brazenly cheat customers with using leftover foods, even for a dish worth only a few dollars. In their mind, customers had no better choice and they deserve such treatment. The place's behavior was outrageous.

Ordered eel to go, told me it's good sized one over 3lbs, and this is 100 bucks looked like, yep just one takeout box :) do I really look like an idiot or are you guys really that hungry back there.

A solid Cantonese restaurant. They serve dim sum on carts until 3 pm and have a wide selection of dishes. If you don't find anything on the carts, you can also have dim sum made to order. We dined at a weird time (3-4 ish) so we were able to eat both dim sum and dinner dishes. The small selection of dim sum dishes I tried was quite good. It had traditional flavors and a good selection to choose from. Our dinner dishes were good as well. The flavors work very well and are very nostalgic. If you can't choose a dish, I would recommend the pineapple shrimp with walnut. It's a classic and I think Joyful Garden does a good job in execution. Definitely come with a group. There's a lot of space for everyone because it's family style dining. Portions are large and meant for sharing. If you're looking for Canto food near Boston, come here!

Been here for dim sum a bunch of times. The food is great. It gets seriously busy so it's helpful to know what time they open. The hours on their website is wrong -- dim sum starts at 10am but they start letting people in around 9:45am

Extremely rude hostess, I know it is busy on weekends and the wait time is long, but when a customer ask how much longer till we get a table the hostess can simply give me a better estimate since the initial wait time is 20 minutes and my party already waited for an hour. The older gentleman got very emotional and told me not to bother him since he is helping customers, hello I'm not a customer? Your job is to help customers not yell at them! I would think you will learn some manners at your age, how do you even get a customer facing job??? Please fire people like this from your establishment; they serve no purpose but to drive customers away! I held back from yelling back at you as I am a professional and I don;t believe in being rude to service workers, your behavior is A DISGRACE!

I absolutely love this place. They get incredibly crowded, but seat smaller parties very quickly. My husband and I have never waited more than 15 minutes. Excellent selection of seafood dim sum. We try to go as often as our pant sizes allow. The ambiance is dim sum palace, which I love. Lots of carts and attentive if you want hot sauce or other condiments. A waiter will bring it to you quickly. Good women's bathroom.

Great food. Reasonable price for takeout and large portion sizes. I had the curry chicken and the pepper steak with hot and sour soup (lunch specials). Soup was great and the food was good as well, though not as spicy as a nice Szechuan spot. Sometimes it can get busy, but I love that they use the toast app as there's no fee to me and it's so easy to order.

We were skeptical... been to many Dim Sum meals and these reviews were not so enticing... But....very, very solid place and easy to get to, lots of mall type parking. Bonus that you can shop at Target while you wait the hour for a table. The Target entrance is right there, no need to exit the mall and you can run the stuff out to the car. They give you a buzzer. I would absolutely go after 1pm, when we left at 1:30 there was no real wait. Avoid the lunch time crowd. Excellent renditions of the standard Dim Sum fare. New to us was the Birds Nest Shrimp... also the Sesame Balls were 1/2 the size that I'm used to but they were perfect. Loved the seafood shu mei. Who knows if the total was correct as we didn't see a menu and had no idea what each dish cost, but figure a feast for 25/person plus tip. We would absolutely head back next time we visit the area.

My partner visited this spot and recommended we go together. We ordered a feast of dim sum - TASTE: 4/5 - highlights included the braised beef brisket w tripe, salted lava egg yolk buns, shrimp shumai, and congee. Was not expecting to like the durian bun, but it was perfect w the added touch of sugar. Wish the tong sui was sweeter; it was more milk heavy. Also, surprisingly, wish the tea was served hotter TEXTURE: 5/5 - the turnip cake was a little soft for me, but every other texture was on point; highlights were the lightness in the chrysanthemum jelly, crunchy and smooth Chinese donut rice roll, flaky egg tart, and char siu pastry PRICE: 4/5 - our total came out to ~$110, which is less expensive than other dim sum places we've been to SERVING SIZE: 5/5 - we had a decent amount of leftovers to bring home SERVICE: 4/5 - we walked in at 10:10am, shortly after opening, on a Saturday and the space was still half empty. It took maybe 15min for the carts to start circling around. We were seated on the outskirts of the floor, so didn't seem like the most opportune spot, but they did a good job of passing our area by the bar. The folks manning the carts helped us find other items we were looking for on other carts too. We came right before the rush; by the time we left, several parties were in the waiting area ATMOSPHERE: 4/5 - good-sized space within the mall and some decor PARKING: 5/5 - plenty of parking in the Watertown Mall parking lot

Called restaurant to pre-order King crab. They cooked 3 ways and and were all amazing. Quality was as good as the best seafood places in Hong Kong (I just visited last month). Nice wine selection at really fair prices. We chose the Silver Oak cab which turned it to be great smooth partner for garlic King crab. Service was great. We were there for 3 hours and they never rushed us. The staff kept changing our plates and checking if we need anything. Highly recommend.

Nothing to rave about but nothing to complain about it, either. If you're looking for decent Chinese food in a fairly nice setting (clean, spacious, well lit, nice high ceilings with blue LED strip lighting, heh) with pretty decent prices and decent service, and if you don't feel like making the drive to Chinatown and/or dealing with its always-crappy parking situation, this is not a bad option. Food is good, not great---leans a bit bland, and there are no condiments on the table to add more salt or a little spicy-ness. (The lack of on-table condiments probably reflects confidence in the cooking, which in this case is rather optimistic.) I did make the mistake of ordering "braised duck with veggies;" veggies were fine, your standard Chinese sauteed-in-oyster-sauce variety, but the actual duck portion was way too small for a $24 dish, and more sadly, overcooked and flavorless. If you like chicken---well, this duck tasted more chicken-ish than duck-ish! "Salt and pepper calamari" was very fresh and perfectly prepared, but again had too little salt or zing to it compared to the same dish at New Golden Gate in Chinatown, which remains the best Chinese place I've ever found in the greater Boston area. "Yang chow fried rice" was the one staple they did well. "Baby bok choy" strangely was a bit limp due to being sauteed, missing that perfect "tender yet still crunchy" wok magic. Speaking of which, I was surprised that this restaurant's menu lacked 3 very basic Cantonese standards that NGG excels at: fried rice with Chinese sausage, stir-fried Chinese broccoli, and ginger beef. All the more surprising considering that the clientele appeared to be 80-90% Chinese, which you normally think would support a more down-home menu. Instead, this place seems to focus on Dim Sum, nicely priced batter-fried Americanized-pseudo-Chinese lunch combo specials, and a somewhat glitzy bar (probably their biggest profit generator) with a half dozen flat panel TVs but a lousy selection of bottled beers (the usual fizzy-water American, Chinese and Mexican mass market "beer," i.e. not an IPA in sight). Probably due to it being in a half-dead old mall together with a giant RMV, in an area without a particularly high East Asian population? Anyhow, I wouldn't object to coming back here on occasion. But I would not actively look forward to doing so. Overall: 3 and 1/2 stars.

Solid dim sum spot. Had to wait about 30min at 1:30 on a long weekend. The restaurant was 90% Chinese customers. Cart style dim sum, it was hard to get the waiters' attention with just 2 of us and neither of us spoke Chinese. But the steamed dishes we did manage to get were hot, fresh, and delicious. Not my favorite place in Boston but good for only being a ~15minute drive away.

An absolute delight! Actually, I think it is better than the places I know in Chinatown. Parking in no problem. There was no wait for two seats at the bar around 11 AM on Saturday. When we left, there was a long line though. The person working the bar was a total delight. She kept the counter clean and arranged for specials that we asked for when the push carts were missing items. The service was a lot friendlier than in Hong Kong (or Chinatown). The fight for the Duke of Joyful Garden is on.

Good dim sum place in Watertown Boston suburbs outside of Chinatown. Excellent: - deep fried bean curd shrimp roll - deep fried shrimp ball Good: - siew mai pork dumpling - har gao, could be better piping hot. - baked pineapple custar OK: - sesame ball - deep fried taro - crispy spring roll

I wish I could do half stars because Joyful Garden is a solid 3.5 at least. That's not a bad thing! If you know about Freddie Wong's 3.5 star rule regarding Asian restaurants. I was in town for Mother's Day and Mom wanted to do Dim Sum for brunch. I suggested Joyful Garden since it was located at the Watertown Mall. While I love the options in Chinatown and Boston, sometimes the parking can be too much. We had no problem parking at Joyful Garden. We expected a wait and we had to wait around 45 minutes. We were given a pager and while the Watertown Mall doesn't offer a lot there is a Target (with a Starbucks) and a Best Buy to keep you occupied while waiting. There's also plenty of bench seating in the Mall as well. The service was good, they had 3-4 carts doing their rotation and while we were seated at the back of the restaurant, they came by often enough that it was not a problem. We were also able to make some a-la-carte orders for items not currently in rotation. The food was great and on par with the Dim Sum I'd get in Boston. My only note is that it leaned more into the appetizer and steamed/fried items. I would have hoped for more rice/noodle dishes. Give me that and I'll add another half-star to an otherwise great Dim Sum option when you don't feel like going into Boston.

This was quite an unfortunate event.. I really enjoyed eating the food here when I would go during the weekends. In fact, I wanted to introduce this dim sum restaurant to my brother. We went on a Monday morning. Sigh. You know, it's one thing if the food tasted bad.. anyway to keep it short, we both got really bad food poisoning. It was a terrible, terrible morning. Unfortunately, it only takes one bad experience to ruin it completely. We will never return back. We may even have to report this incident.

I recently learned that Joyful Garden offers more traditional dim sum menu and wanted to give it a try since it's not far from where I live. We visited in a rainy Friday afternoon and I was surprised it was so busy around 1pm. We didn't have to wait long but wasn't seated right away. It's definitely one of the bigger dining hall dim sum experiences that I've been used to in NYC and here. Even though it's a large area the dim sum cart ladies work fast and made sure to visit us in the corner often. Most of what I got were pretty much what you can find every other dim sum place I was pretty happy they have mango puddings since I normally don't find it in other restaurants. For the food and location definitely a bit more premium but I was happy to find a good dim sum location here and don't have to trek out to Chinatown or Quincy. The parking lot can get very busy but I think a little better on this side vs the Target side.

Nice place to sit with family and friends for dimsum, though waits are really long. The siu mai was a bit tough - the meat not entirely juicy and somewhat overcooked. The har gow was better, though the wrapper was not entirely consistent or cogent. The shrimp inside were nice. The bo lo bao was sweet and quite standard, though a bit dry. The cheung fun (no filling) was oddly lacking in flavor; there was no dried shrimp or chives as expected, and only an oyster sauce accompaniment (no sesame sauce, no Hoisin sauce). The fried chive dumpling was decent - nicely crisped (though not evenly on both sides); though all of them were exploded. The tripe was too tough - needs to be softened. The wrapped tofu skin with meat was oddly not as good as before - the meat was too tough, and didn't have the delicacy as it used to. The lo bak gao was falling apart, and lacked the characteristic lo bak flavor. The yiu tao with the rice skin wrapper around it didn't stick together; the rice skin wrapper kept falling of the yiu tao. Also, too much sauce was absorbed by the dough. The gai lan veggies were nice to eat, but oddly very very thick. Slice each stalk in half! Still a great place to go, but perhaps a bit of an off day.

Great dim sum options and dishes. The food was flavorful and so tasty! My family and I really enjoyed eating here and look forward to returning for non dim sum options.